1. Purpose of the Invention
This invention relates to a system to keep any type of vessel afloat when an emergency situation arises caused by the appearance of the entry of water, a collision, filtration, grounding, excessive rolling or pitching or any other situation, which provides essential new characteristics and notable advantages with respect to the systems that are known and used in the current state of the art.
More specifically, the invention proposes the development of a system that provides sufficient flotation and stabilization elements (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cinflatable elementsxe2x80x9d) that are adequately effective in preventing the sinking of a vessel when an emergency like those specified above occurs. Activation is automatic or manual as selected, when the entry of water into the vessel has been detected or when the inclination of the vessel is excessive, and once the water has reached a predetermined level the extent of the excessive inclination has reached a predetermined value or a threshold of any other type has been likewise reached, said system providing inflatable elements which are selectively automatically inflated with the appropriate fluid and are in charge of keeping the vessel afloat and avoiding capsizing for the time needed for different rescue, towing and/or repair operations, maintaining in the most cases sufficient residual capabilities for steering control.
This system allows adequate time for possible damage repair while guaranteeing the floatability and stability of the vessel. Most important, the system guarantees the surviving of the crew during a quite long period of time.
The field of application of the invention is in the naval industry dedicated to the manufacture and/or maintenance of ships, recreational and/or fishing boats and the like, as well as the rescue equipment thereto.
2. Background and Summary of the Invention
It is a known fact that at certain times and with some frequency, very dangerous situations arise on the high seas, caused by breakage, malfunctions, leaks, accidents, etc. in which vessels are sometimes involved. These types of situations are normally very difficult to resolve, keeping in mind the difficulties to access the places in which they occur, regardless of whether this is done by sea or by air, and specially when it involves a large number of people; for this reason, many of these problems often end in catastrophe, at least for part of the people involved.
Many vessels have some means among their customary auxiliary equipment aimed at being used in rescue operations if necessary, such as lifeboats or even individual inflatable elements. Although these methods have been effective in some situations, the truth is that they have always been shown to be insufficient, and useless in many cases, if they cannot be used due to the speed with which the catastrophe develops.
Anti-shipwreck systems are known, of the type that incorporate one or several floats coupled outside the vessel, which increases the beam and which can be inflated with pressurized air when a situation of extreme danger arises in the case of a leak (Spanish utility model U9403303).
These floats or inflating elements are found in grooves superimposed along the hull of the vessel (European patent EP-A-0487527); in other cases, these elements are housed even in the inside in a net wrapping (Spanish patent P9302462).
U.S. Pat. No. 3,440,989 describes a fully organized, self-contained flotation unit adapted to be mounted inside a compartment of a boat, conveniently attached to the ceiling of the craft""s compartment, and deploying the floating elements inside the craft""s compartment.
However, there are certain problems associated with the aforementioned devices and systems, such as the appearance of possible fissures, cracks, piercing or fractures in the protection means of the inflating elements, due to permanent direct contact with the seawater, due to contact with docks, due to climatic factors, or due to be inflated inside the boat, which may endanger the proper functioning of the anti-shipwreck system and, in some cases, the safety of the people aboard.
Yet another known problem with prior art systems is that once an emergency situation arises and the system comes into operation, all inflating elements simultaneously deploy. This implies a waste of resources as many times only some of them are really necessary to overcome the emergency situation.
Other security systems use high-pressure gas to fill the inflating elements, with the high risk of explosion or fire that this involves.
Therefore, there is real need in practice for effective auxiliary and/or complementary systems to solve the problems of the aforementioned types, in particular when these problems represent an effective risk of loss of human life and/or economic losses.
The main object of this invention is the provision of a flotation system that is quickly activated, is able to anticipate any danger situation, and prevents a real risk for people, as well as being automatic if it is convenient, without the need for any intervention of the personnel on the vessel, once there is a particular elevation in the water level inside the vessel or a severe inclination of the vessel, and which will provide the means that will be capable of keeping the vessel afloat and/or stabilized for the time needed for rescue and/or repair and/or towing the vessel to a safe place, as mentioned above, therefore solving the problems that exist in the known systems to obtain flotation of vessels without the requirement of auxiliary systems.
In accordance with the invention, these objectives are fully achieved with the planned system, which develops a system that can selectively deploy a plurality of inflatable elements, in variable number depending on the type of vessel, on the outside of the hull, connected in a suitable ratio with a plurality of pressurized fluid containers and vertically and horizontally located along the side of the vessel depending on structural and dimensional aspects of the characteristics of the zone of the vessel where they are positioned. To this purpose, the system foresees the use of detection devices inside the vessel to detect the height progressively reached by the water and/or the inclination extent, e.g. in time or angular position, so that once a predetermined threshold is reached, an automatic deployment mechanism is triggered. This triggering is provided by the opening of electrically operated valves, which supply a pressurized fluid contained in one or more tanks at a specific pressure and which, through the proper piping, is delivered to the devices that house the aforementioned inflatable elements, in order to deploy such devices and, if required, maintain such devices at a constant specific pressure.
The practical realization of the system of the present invention allows for several possibilities, which may be done with devices enclosed in the vessel and connected to the internal activation system with the proper pipes, these devices being able to have access to the outside through a predetermined area when an emergency situation arises.
As will be shown later, the characteristics inherent in each type of embodiment differ, which means that in each specific case, one or the other may be chosen depending on specific needs.
According to the invention, a possible embodiment would include a mechanism enclosed inside a cylindrical body, capable of axial movement inside the cylindrical body when pushed by the pressurized fluid, and able to exit through a controlled area of the hull of the vessel and thereby allow the deployment of the inflatable elements. Many of these mechanisms will be arranged inside the hull of the vessel, as many as are deemed necessary to maintain the stability and flotation of the vessel in case of need, separated from one another by a predetermined distance.
Another possible embodiment has been planned to use a device that is made up of two cylinders that can be screwed together, which enclose the unfolding inflatable elements. The external cylinder has a base of larger diameter, which is adjusted to the exterior part of the hull of the vessel. This base includes a pressurized sealed closure that is adapted thereto, which allows the inflatable element to unfold when pushed by the inflatable element itself by virtue of the incoming pressurized fluid.
Both embodiments resolve the above mentioned problems since they offer the possibility of housing the inflatable elements inside the vessel, which will prevent the inflatable elements from suffering any deterioration and will guarantee the perfect functioning of the system.
Also, the installation of the system only requires, at most, a minor physical or aesthetic alteration of the hull of the vessel; the inflatable elements do not suffer any deterioration; and there is no risk of explosion, as occurs with other systems.
Consequently, this system is more commercially acceptable.
Therefore, a system as developed by this invention can perfectly fulfill the mission of keeping the vessel afloat in case of a leak or a severe inclination (resulting from breakdown, load-slide, heavy sea or a similar occurrence), becoming a very versatile system with very broad possibilities for use.